Go Ahead and Trash that Router You Taped to a Roomba Because Tiny WiFi-Conducting Robots Exist Now

It even has a tail.

If a wireless router that just chills under the TV set in the living room is too boring and predictable for you, you’re in luck: a PhD student at Michigan State University is developing a tiny running, jumping robot that has wireless communication abilities.

The so-called “tailbot” prototype “can jump like a frog and maneuver like a lizard,” GizMag reports, and its form is inspired by the way lizards use their tails to perform acrobatics. The tailbots can be made with 3D printers and cruise along at 1.4 inches per second on flat ground.

In addition to the wireless communication, tailbots have an on-board power source so they can operate autonomously. They could be useful in natural disasters to “jump around and detect where the survivors are and send the location to the central processor,” GizMag reports.

This all sounds very useful but why has no one created a robot that brings you iced coffee all day? Get on that, Science.

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